Mandatory essay question: Please discuss the following (300 word minimum): Tell us something unique about you, why you chose your particular major, and how you expect Duquesne University to help you achieve your academic, personal and professional goals. Please include any examples of your research, shadowing or volunteer experiences.
I could lie and tell you that my whole life has been one big fairy tale, that I have been surrounded by miraculous people who have influenced me, or I could tempt you with a story about a spectacular role model I've had. However, neither of those points would be true. My life has been tough, always challenging. I am not influenced easily. I do not have a wonderful role model that I look up to and live by, but someone has changed my life.
My dad committed suicide on June 7th of this year. I watched my world burn down behind my own eyes, and every future plan, old memory, car ride, movie night, picture, bike ride burn up in flames. My life, my everything was gone. The ground had vanished beneath me and I was falling fast. Always guarded, I had built a wall around myself from when I was a child, so I let no one in to help me. To lose someone you love is to alter you life forever. The pain will become bearable, new people will come into your life, but the gap will never close. How could it? The particular ness of someone who mattered so much is not erased by anyone but death. This hole in my heart is the shape of you and no one else can fit.
For a long time, slowly, regrettably, I forgot just enough that I could survive from one day to the next. I had never been so empty. But one thing that I started to realize was that the world hadn't stopped turning. Life goes on. As hard and cruel that may seem, it is true. So even when I felt like I had nothing left, and when I couldn't walk, I was crawling. I never gave in to the flames. I always had faith.
You have to experience bad things in life to appreciate all the good. You have build tough skin to ready you for this brutal world. You have to have courage, faith, and throw yourself out there, even if there's a chance you will get your heart broken. Sometimes when you are at the edge and are about to fall into the darkness, faith is knowing one of two things will happen: there will be something solid to stand on or you are going to teach yourself to fly.
I want to go into psychology because I have always had fire burning within me that drives me to help others. To me psychology is a subject with no right or wrong answer because its about how we think about ourselves and why we think the way we do. Its more about what we think rather than what we are supposed to know, and unlike math or science where there is only one right answer, psychology really has no right definite answer. I'm ready to start studying psychology and find out what my mind is really telling me, and hopefully the state of the human mind as well.
Throughout my life, church has always been a big priority. I have attended mass every Sunday since I was a baby and I have always seen a great importance of my own personal faith. From 5th to 8th grade I was an alter server at my parish Holy Family. Duquesne will allow me to extend my spiritual goals as I would like to become a Eucharistic minister in the near future. I like the school because of its size. Going to a Catholic high school, and the number of students being few, I have always felt a sense of family and can see that also at Duquesne. Because of the school's commitment to excellence in education, Duquesne will help me grow further in my studies and achieve a high standard of moral values.
I could lie and tell you that my whole life has been one big fairy tale, that I have been surrounded by miraculous people who have influenced me, or I could tempt you with a story about a spectacular role model I've had. However, neither of those points would be true. My life has been tough, always challenging. I am not influenced easily. I do not have a wonderful role model that I look up to and live by, but someone has changed my life.
My dad committed suicide on June 7th of this year. I watched my world burn down behind my own eyes, and every future plan, old memory, car ride, movie night, picture, bike ride burn up in flames. My life, my everything was gone. The ground had vanished beneath me and I was falling fast. Always guarded, I had built a wall around myself from when I was a child, so I let no one in to help me. To lose someone you love is to alter you life forever. The pain will become bearable, new people will come into your life, but the gap will never close. How could it? The particular ness of someone who mattered so much is not erased by anyone but death. This hole in my heart is the shape of you and no one else can fit.
For a long time, slowly, regrettably, I forgot just enough that I could survive from one day to the next. I had never been so empty. But one thing that I started to realize was that the world hadn't stopped turning. Life goes on. As hard and cruel that may seem, it is true. So even when I felt like I had nothing left, and when I couldn't walk, I was crawling. I never gave in to the flames. I always had faith.
You have to experience bad things in life to appreciate all the good. You have build tough skin to ready you for this brutal world. You have to have courage, faith, and throw yourself out there, even if there's a chance you will get your heart broken. Sometimes when you are at the edge and are about to fall into the darkness, faith is knowing one of two things will happen: there will be something solid to stand on or you are going to teach yourself to fly.
I want to go into psychology because I have always had fire burning within me that drives me to help others. To me psychology is a subject with no right or wrong answer because its about how we think about ourselves and why we think the way we do. Its more about what we think rather than what we are supposed to know, and unlike math or science where there is only one right answer, psychology really has no right definite answer. I'm ready to start studying psychology and find out what my mind is really telling me, and hopefully the state of the human mind as well.
Throughout my life, church has always been a big priority. I have attended mass every Sunday since I was a baby and I have always seen a great importance of my own personal faith. From 5th to 8th grade I was an alter server at my parish Holy Family. Duquesne will allow me to extend my spiritual goals as I would like to become a Eucharistic minister in the near future. I like the school because of its size. Going to a Catholic high school, and the number of students being few, I have always felt a sense of family and can see that also at Duquesne. Because of the school's commitment to excellence in education, Duquesne will help me grow further in my studies and achieve a high standard of moral values.
